


Suddenly Second

by talefeathers



Category: Dark Tower - Stephen King
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Gen, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2019-06-25 21:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15649698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: If Cuthbert isn't jealous, why does Roland's relationship with Susan cause him so much pain?





	Suddenly Second

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Green
> 
> (I went a bit abstract on this one, opting for "green with envy")

Cuthbert wasn’t jealous, he reminded himself.

Susan was lovely, of course. He’d felt his pulse quicken when she’d smiled at him at the party, a vision of brightness in her eye-catching blue dress. She was beautiful, and he’d told her as much, but he truly hadn’t seen anything coming of it. And even if something had come of it, he doubted that he would have pursued it.

It wasn’t that he wanted Roland, either. They’d known each other since before Cuthbert could remember, which made them more brothers than anything. He’d confided things in Roland that he had never told anyone else, and Roland had confided in him as much as his more inward nature allowed. The two of them had a language all their own, an easy rhythm, and though Cuthbert wasn’t fool enough to deny that Roland was shaping up to be a fine-looking young man (gods, those eyes), he’d never wanted anything more than that from him.

He wasn’t jealous, and he wasn’t lying to himself about that. He knew, even past the layer of half-truths that make up a teenager’s personality, that it wouldn’t feel right with either of them.

But why, then, did knowing that they were together twist his heart to tearing?

_It’s because he didn’t tell you,_ something deep within him whispered. _It’s because he didn’t tell his best friend. And why should he? He’s got a lover to lay his secrets on now, hasn’t he? What use has he for you?_

__“You don’t stop being friends with someone just because you’re rolling in the hay with someone else,” Cuthbert muttered back._ _

__Still, beneath that layer of half-truths, he doubted._ _


End file.
